Circuit breaker



Nov. 28, 1939. G. H PERRYMAN ET AL 5 CIRCUIT BREAKER Filed Sept. 10,1938 INVENTOR v Georde Perm/71241111 Paul J'dw'e'rin Wav- Patented Nov.28,1939.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE alarm cmcurr sums George H. Perryman, UnionCity, and Paul I Schwerin, Rutherford, N. 1.

Application September 10, 1938, Serial No. $29,238

3 Claims. This invention relates to circuit breakers, and

I more particularly to those utilized in the timing mechanism ofinternal combustion engines.

The inefllciency of timing mechanisms utilized in connection withinternal combustion engines, and particularly those used in automobilesis well known. Imperfect contact, arcing, pitting of the contacts, wearand other deficiencies often quickly arise and grow more aggravated asthe' motor receives use in time. The correction of these deficienciesrequires time and eflort on the part of the car owner or the serviceman; parts wear out and require replacement, and seldom does the averageautomotive engine operate with maximum eiliciency due to thedeficiencies mentioned and. to improper adjustment of the parts, andparticularly the contacts or so-called "poin of the circuit interrupter.

The objectof the present invention is to provide a circuit breaker inwhich the contacts are enclosed in a chamber in which a high vacuum isinitially produced and permanently maintained. Another object of theinvention is to provide a chamber for enclosing the contacts,

so constructed that a high vacuum may be readily,

produced within it, and also so constructed that one or both of thewalls of the chamber will be flexible or resilient'to thereby act as ameans by which the contacts canbe either opened orclosed according tothe design of operating mechanism employed in conjunction with thecircuit breaker. Other objects are attained by the invention, as will behereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an embodiment of the invention isshown, Fig. 1 is a sectional view through the improved circuit breaker;Fig.2is asectionalvlewon theline 2-! of Pig. 1, looking in the directionof the arrows; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device; Fig. 4 is asectional view on the line H of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of thearrows, and Hg. 5 is a sectional view of a portion of a modifiedstructure.

The circuit breaker contacts or "points" as they are commonly termed,are indicated at I and I, the ends or faces I and! thereof being inabutment when the circuit is closed and spaced apart a slight distancewhen the circuit is open, asisclearlyunderstoodin thisart.'1'hecontact2, which may be the movable contact, is mounted in a dished plate I ofconcavo-convex formation, the same being preferably composed of metaland beingflexibleorresilient sothatitnormallyholds the contacting faceor end 4 of the contact memberffirmlyagsinsttbeccntactingfacelofthe andsecurely sealed around the contact member contact member I. Contactmember 2 is in two parts, one of which is welded on the outside of theplate 9 and the other on the inside so that the plate I is imperforate,and the contact member 2 becomes, for all intents and purposes, an 5integral part of the plate 9.

The dished plate 9 'is formed with an integral marginal flange 1 incontact with a similar flange 9 formed at the edge of a dished plate 9similar to that shown at i and in opposed position theren to. Theabutting flanges I and 8 of the two plates 5 and 9 are welded togetherso that the two concave-convex plates 5 and 9 co-operate in theformation of a chamber III within which the normally contacting ends 9and I of the canu tact members I and 2 are disposed.

Contact member I is secured in the plate 9 by being fused theretothrough the medium of a small body of glass II or other suitableinsulation which will act not only to electrically insulate the contactmember I from plate 9 but also to firmly attach the contact member Ifixedly inthe plate 9, and seal the plate around the contact-member sothat a high vacuum initially produced within the chamber It will beindefinitely maintained therein for the long life of the circuitbreaker. I

The casing-or chamber, composed of the two opposed dished plates 9 and 9as the walls thereof, fused or otherwise intimately secured together Iby means of the fused glass II, is one in which a high vacuum can bereadily secured and indefinitely maintained. By a fhigh vacuum is meanta vacuum equivalent to that attained in electronic tubes andparticularly those of presentday construction wherein a metal or glassenvelope is employed to encase the .tube elements. The securement of avacuum equivalent to that attained in such tubes may be had within thechamber II by following the evacuating promaybe separated from contactmember I by In the structure shownin Fig. 1 the contact 2 amuse any ofthe conventional breaker mechanism and we have shown a lifter member I,operated by the conventional cam mechanism, not shown, engaging aninsulated nut IS on the threaded. end I6 of contact member 2, forbreaking the contact of members I and 2 when required by engineoperation. If desired, the device may be constructed for reverseoperation. That is to say, the contact members may be normally held incircuit-breaking or open position and a means be employed for closingthe circuit when desired by the operation of a pushing element actingagainst the end of contact member 2. In such case it might be founddesirable to utilize a coil spring H as indicated in dotted lines inFig. 1, within the casing ID to normally hold the contacts in openposition. These and various other modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. For example, while we havestated that the plate may be flexible or resilient, it will beunderstood that both thatplate and the co-operating plate 9 may beresilient.

In Fig. 5 is shown a modified structure wherein there is disposedbetween the flanges l and 8 a ring of suitable insulation 20 such asglass, the glass being fused to the flanges and acting as an insulationbetween the plates 5 and 9. With this arrangement, contact member I canbe affixed directly to the plate 9 in the manner of contact 2, the glassindicated at it being in such case unnecessary.

By the enclosure of the contact members within a high vacuum, sparking,oxidation of the points, pitting and the other many deficienciesoccurring with present-day structures is avoided and the life of thecircuit-breaker greatly increased,'not to mention the consistent uniformoperating performance of the device for its entire life. The result isthat consistently satisfactory engine performance is attained for longperiods of time. In addition also, a closer spacing of the contacts maybe used resulting in greater circuit-opening and closing speed.

What we claim is:

1. In a circuit breaker, a sealed metal casing in which a high vacuum ismaintained, said cas ing comprising a pair of dished members, juxtaposedmarginal flanges at the edges of the dished members in planessubstantially parallel to the planes oi said-dishedmembers and securedtogether, one of said dished members being flexible and constituting adiaphragm, a contact carried centrally of said flexible member andhaving portions respectively disposed inwardly and outwardly of thecasing, a second cooperating contact carried centrally of the otherdished member and having an inner end of the contact cooperating withthe contact carried by the flexible dished member and an outer enddisposed outwardly of the casing and means for insulating the secondcontact from the flexible dished memher.

2. In a circuit breaker, a. sealed metal casing in which a high vacuumis maintained, said casing comprising a pair of dished members securedtogether at their marginal edges, one of said dished members beingflexible and constituting a diaphragm, a contact carried centrally ofsaid flexible member and having portions respectively disposed inwardlyand outwardly of the casing, the other dished member having a centralopening therein, a second contact cooperating with the aforesaid contactand extending through said opening and an insulation glass support forthe second contact disposed in said opening and fused to the walls ofsaid opening and to said second contact to insulate the second contactfrom the flexible dished wall.

3. In a circuit breaker, a sealed metal casing in which a high vacuumismaintained, said casing comprising a pair of dished members, juxtaposedmarginal flanges at the edges of the dished members in planessubstantially parallel to the planes of said dished members and securedtogether, one of said dished members being flexible and constituting adiaphragm, a contact carried centrally of said flexible dished memberand having portions disposed inwardly and outwardly of the casing, asecond contact centrally carried by the other dished member of thecasing and having an inner end in the casing cooperating with thecontact carried by the flexible dished wall and an outer end disposedoutwardly of the casing and insulation means interposed between themarginal juxtaposed flanges of the dished members for insulating thesecond contact from the flexible dished member.

GEORGE H. PERRYMAN. PAUL SCHWERIN.

